Kiss Bipartisanship Goodbye

In scuttling major intelligence legislation that he, the president and most lawmakers supported, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert last week enunciated a policy in which Congress will pass bills only if most House Republicans back them, regardless of how many Democrats favor them. Hastert's position, which is drawing fire from Democrats and some outside groups, is the latest step in a decade-long process of limiting Democrats' influence and running the House virtually as a one-party institution. Republicans earlier barred House Democrats from helping to draft major bills such as the 2003 Medicare revision and this year's intelligence package. Hastert now says such bills will reach the House floor, after negotiations with the Senate, only if "the majority of the majority" supports them.

Only Republicans! Not only does this mean that the conservatives in Congress are completely controlling the agenda, but that bipartisan bills such as the intelligence reform, overwhelmingly supported by moderates and the people, will never come up for a vote!